Jerry Jeff
Steve Earle
Keywords
Reviews (4)
The line of best fit
d. 15. Sep. 2022
By
By
Sam Eeckhout
d. 15. Sep. 2022
"Attention grabbing and therapeutic return: The concept of art as therapy is par for the course for the Vancouver-based collective - who have described their group "as our recovery program." The cathartic, sometimes uncomfortable therapy moments are infused into Tough Baby, exploring the full range of the human experience. On their debut album Pain Olympics, the message was powered by inner darkness. But here, on Tough Baby, they've instead pulled open the curtains and cast their gaze outward. The band wastes no time wading in, when early fast-paced tunes like "The Politician" and "Costly Engineered Illusion" drive forward with jittery basslines and a Talking Heads meets Clash energy. The album throbs and flutters, falling apart in places and consciously putting itself back together in others. Riffs accelerate and crumble, spurning conventions of song structure, while lead singer Zach Choy channels his inner Bowie and Morrissey throughout".
Undertoner
d. 26. Sep. 2022
By
By
Anne Kirstine Knudsen
d. 26. Sep. 2022
"Tough Baby, [er] ikke nødvendigvis det mest musikalsk komplekse eller eksperimenterende album, men det mestrer til gengæld den subtile kunst at være mærkelig, men samtidig mærkværdigt catchy ... Tough Baby er et pragteksemplar af et artpunk-album, og den eneste ærlige anke, jeg har, er, at det kun næsten er lykkedes gruppen at fange deres live-energi i digitalt format".
The quietus
d. 19. Sep. 2022
By
By
Hayley Scott (musikanmelder)
d. 19. Sep. 2022
"The DIY collective cast any semblance of genre to the wind: On Tough Baby, the collective are essentially unravelling themselves - their own fears and anxieties and delusions - feelings that are conventionally negative but turned into something positive by virtue of it manifesting as a work of art, and not an act of deprecation. The traditional post-punk dynamics of agitated, jagged guitars and abstract wordplay are exchanged for local female-voice choirs and effusive cinematic arrangements. In spite of this bold evolution, signs of the old Crack Cloud bubble beneath the surface, spilling through the cracks: 'Crackin Up' retains a semblance of earlier releases, with its sharp angles and jittery exterior. The inclusion of brass, alongside myriad esoteric details (tape loops, sound collages, kazoos and synthesizers) adds emotional resonance to the intensity of Zach Choy's vocals, which sound practically chewed and spat out".
Uncut
2022 October
By
By
Lisa-Marie Ferla
2022 October
"Second round of Vancouverites' music-as-therapy: Nine tracks of solidarity, creativity and catharsis ... "Please Yourself" pairs abrasive, speak-sung vocals and warped electric guitar with moments of angelic, melodic unison; "The Politician" casts Zach [Choy] as a misantropic Morrissey soundalike amid a clanging, propulsive soundscape; the title track hoists a shimmering, piano-and-horn-driven chorus above a nastily rapped bridge. It's rarely coherent and ot always pretty, but the most effective therapy rarely is".